Tabs

Saturday, October 1, 2011

All Righty Then

The weather finally broke around here which means that the birds are finally on the move south. Not only are the birds flocking into south Jersey, but so are the birders. I have a few blog posts in my head after the past 2 days, but I thought I would post this one today which deals with photography and photographers.

I have been using my camera and new lens for a while now and still don't really know what I'm doing. Yes, I get good photos sometimes, but that doesn't mean that I know what I'm doing. Well I finally got up the nerve to ask a couple of photographers that I have been hanging around with if they would help me. Gerry and John obliged and gave me some tips yesterday. Gerry gave me some more tips today.

Here are some of the results from an amazing warbler experience this afternoon. I literally could have touched the Cape May warbler. I shot about 60 photos of this bird over the course of an hour - along with another 200+ of the Black-throated Blue, Blackpoll and Parula. I still deleted most of the shots but at least I got a few really good ones.

Cape May Warbler - notice the cheek pattern which is the diagnostic field mark

Blackpoll Warbler - notice the eye line and wing bars which are diagnostic field marks

Northern Parula - notice the olive patch on his back which is diagnostic field mark

I must tell you that these photos are not cropped by much. I only cropped them to remove leaves and other distracting features. The Parula is the best shot that I have ever taken of this species - thanks to Gerry. Here is another shot of the Parula hanging upside down which is typical for this active little bugger.

Notice the little piece of debris that just fell out of the bird's mouth and the way the sun lit up the belly of this bird. Just a great shot if I do say so myself.

The birds just didn't want to leave this particular tree. Here are a couple of shots with multiple species in the same frame.

Cape May Warbler and Parula working the crux of the tree

Blackpoll Warbler replaced the Parula - there must have been something yummy there

Hoping for more good stuff tomorrow. I have another story from Friday that I will post if tomorrow doesn't pan out.Let me know what you think of the photos by posting a comment.